71st Anniversary of Women's Military Corps Establishment... Increasing the Number of Female Military Officers

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The South Korean military's female soldiers have marked their 71st anniversary since establishment. The origin of female soldiers dates back to female subordinate officers trained as drill instructors for the Student Defense Corps for middle school and above, organized during the social turmoil following the establishment of the government. In 1949, 32 female subordinate officers were trained as leaders of the Women's Youth Defense Corps. At that time, Training Commander Kim Hyun-sook, the first branch chief responsible for training, was assigned to the office of former Minister of National Defense Shin Sung-mo after the Student Defense Corps was disbanded, where she carried out the mission of persuading captured female communist guerrillas during anti-communist operations in areas such as Jirisan.

The military designated September 6, 1950, the day the "Women's Volunteer Army Training Corps" was established in Busan, as "Women's Military Day." Just three days after the training corps was founded, 500 people applied, and among them, 491 completed the training and took up arms for the country.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 6th, female cadets were first admitted to the Air Force Academy in 1997, followed by the Army Academy in 1998 and the Naval Academy in 1999. Since 2011, with the expansion of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) to women's universities, 2,210 female ROTC officers have been trained to date.

As the number of female soldiers increased, efforts to accommodate them within the military also emerged. Since 2014, the Special Forces Command has removed the word "man" from its military songs. This was the first change in 40 years. Changing the lyrics from "man" to "warriors" in songs sung exclusively by the Special Forces, such as the Black Berets, was a measure to consider the growing number of female soldiers. At that time, former Special Forces Commander Jeon Im-beom ordered the revision of the military songs, and the lyrics have been changed accordingly.

The "forbidden women" barrier, which was rarely broken on land, air, and sea, has gradually been dismantled. The first female infantry battalion commander in a frontline division was appointed, and a female commander of the Aviation Operations Command, which commands Apache attack helicopter units, was produced. The first female combat flight leader and the first female naval ship captain have also emerged.

However, female officers have yet to be appointed as company or platoon commanders in special forces battalion-level or smaller units, demolition officers, UDT (Navy Special Warfare Unit), Air Force Search and Rescue Technicians (SART), or submarine crew members. Nevertheless, the Ministry of National Defense announced in 2018 that it is reviewing plans to completely remove restrictions on deploying female soldiers in these areas, so the barrier is expected to be broken soon.

Currently, there are about 14,600 female personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The Ministry of National Defense plans to increase the number of female soldiers to about 17,000, which is 8.8% of the total officer quota, by the end of next year. In the Army, about 9,600 female soldiers serve as officers and non-commissioned officers, accounting for 7.8% of the Army's total officers.

In the Navy and Marine Corps, about 2,090 and 580 female soldiers serve, respectively, making up about 7.9% of the total officers in those branches. Among female Marine Corps commanders, there is one lieutenant colonel battalion commander and 19 captain-level company commanders. There are nine female aircraft pilots, and 23 are serving in overseas deployment units. Last year, the first female helicopter pilot was commissioned since the unit's establishment. In the Air Force, about 2,400 female soldiers serve, accounting for 8.5% of the officers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.